Flight said the acquisition of five Tu-204s from Aviastar had progressed as far as a letter of intent, a nonbinding agreement that usually precedes contracts to buy civil aircraft.

The Tu-204`s engines would be supplied by Britain`s Rolls-Royce PLC, the weekly said. The aircraft is also available with engines from a Russian manufacturer, but Aviastar has offered it with reliable and efficient Rolls turbofans in the hope of making it more attractive to customers outside of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Adoption of the Rolls-powered Tu-204 by China could be a minor breakthrough for the British company, since initial orders can lead to much larger sales of the same equipment.

At the same time, China is close to ordering up to 40 narrow-body 737 aircraft from U.S. Boeing Co., the magazine reported, citing industry sources.

China, which buys civil aircraft centrally on the request of its airlines, was also expected to order up to about 40 A320s from Airbus SAS, Flight said.

Indeed. They do build them pretty, but they used to be noisy uncomfortable and unsafe (at least compared to western counterparts).
Now if they can get parts and operational commonality with western aircraft, maybe western airlines might be tempted to buy them as well (the RR engines are a good first step).

I wonder what is the payment arrangement between China and Tupolev. I thought that Tupolev is charging cash for its aircrafts, which was one of the major hurdles in the restart of production line.

On the other hand, I know Chinese have cash on hand, but would they rather go for old fashioned goods exchange system (at least the Russian portion, they probably need to spit the hard currency to Rolls Royce). If that is so, Russian goverment would be financing Tupolev.

Finally, I wonder about service agreement. Would it be performed back in Tupolev plant (which I hope it is the case), or are they going to train Chineese to do it on their own?

I'm pleased to hear that there is SOME progress for the RB211-powered TU-204. I am sure it is a world-class aircraft, albeit at a price which is more affordable for many airlines than that of a new RB211-powered 757-200.

Does anyone know the price of a TU-204 (base and RR-powered) vs. a 757?

Airmale: I believe that the Tu-204 would have been to small for LH, and I don't know about the range.

For Russian industry, this is great. It must have been some time since they got an export order for a/c last time. China is a first step, and I think that they should be glad that they choosed the RR engine.
But sadly, I think that it will take time before we will see sales to any western countries from Russia.

Hi there,
I believe the TU-204 range won't match
that of the B-757, but would easily beat
the range of A-321. It would surely beat
both Airbus and Boeing airplanes in unit price.
I would certainy love to see Russian
aircraft on the market alongside Airbus
and Boeing. Competition is always interesting,
and I believe the TU is capable of becoming
a sales success. Just hope politics won't be
involved.
Kindest regards.
Advancedkid

Nice to see China is willing to buy Russian Aircraft. China is adapting to the western world and show that they have faith in Russian equipment. Maybe now more airlines will follow. Especially when the Tu-204 proves itself to be a good and safe aircraft at the airline they are flying with. Then Tupolev finnaly gets a better image in the aviation world.

I am glad to see the potential for more competition for Boeing and Airbus. I just hope that Russian airplanes have improved dramatically because when I flew on an IL62 it was the worst flying experiance I have ever had. There were no TV screens on a long transatlantic trip, it was crowded as hell, and the plane was extremely noisy. It was on LOT Polish back in the 1980's before they bought 767's to replace the IL62's.

Last year, China Xinjiang Airlines announced an order for 3 Il-96-300s. After the initial announcement, nothing of any substance has been heard on this since. I know that Xinjiang Airlines was negotiating with Perm Motors over their PS-90A, but it seems that Xinjiang/CAAC was simply using the Il-96-300 to get a better deal from Boeing on 757/767 aircraft.

With this current Tu-204 deal, a number of 5 have been "ordered". It has been reported that CAAC has told Xinjiang Airlines to expect 1, plus 3 other airlines have been to told that they are getting them. From reports, the 5 aircraft are going to be made up of 3 passenger and 2 cargo aircraft.

Does it really make economical sense for an airline to introduce a single example of a brand new aircraft type into their fleet?

I would not be in the least bit surprised if the Chinese are using this "order" as some type of threat against Airbus (or less likely, Boeing).

Not long ago on the news there was some information that for each airplane build Aviastar makes no profit! For each 70 kopeks invested plant spends 1 rubel!

But on the other side Aviastar must increase Tu-204 production rate! Aviastar needs money to start up the production of the second bunch of airframes. Initially only 28 airframes were produced half of which never flew and were never completed.

I think that Aviastar should concentrate on sales in Russia first, soon there will be a great need for such airplanes.

Airlines such as Sibir, KMV and Kras Air already operate Tu-204s and all want to replace their aging Tu-154s with them. Air Cairo keeps their Tu-204s busy. Air Rep wants more aircraft! Arab Lybean Airlines officials went to Ulyanovsk to see the production line!

This list is not impressive but it shows that airlines are interested.

In 1992 or 1993 37 Tu-154M have been produced!
In 2001 only one Tu-204 and one Tu-214!

By the way Aviatsiya, what is happening with Il-96s? I read some where that Xinjiang Airlines still want them. How about Il-96M/T I read on avia.ru that RA-96101 will be converted to Il-96-400!